The King Amusement Company Factory Built Many A Carnival Ride

The King Amusement Company out of Mt. Clemens Michigan turned out many rides from the 1940’s through the late 1960’s. They could never be confused as the “Cadillac of Ride Builders”, in fact most of what they built was just marginal.

But they built a lot of those rides and they were relatively cheap to buy to get a show started on a shoestring budget.

A person could go up to the King Amusement Company factory in Mt Clemens, sit for a spell in the office with the always amiable Mr. King, cutting up jackpots with him in the office and if he liked you, you comb through the back lot where the trade ins were stored and be in the carnival business before supper for nothing down.
The King Amusement Company built many rides including the Whizzer, Flying Comet, Merry Go Rounds, kiddie rides and the venerable Spinaroo to name a few.
Having owned a Spinaroo, I recall that the ring and pinion drive system required a Lincoln welding machine permanently housed under the ride to build up the teeth on the drive gears daily. It was a nightmare to maintain and after a season I sold it to another sucker.

Having said that, it got me another major ride to add to my small show for very little money and that, I suppose, is the endearing legacy of the generous Mr King and the King Manufacturing Company.

The Fly O Plane ride was manufactured in 1948 by Eyerly Aircraft Company.

The Fly O Plane was originally designed to train pilots.

Eyerly was born February 22, 1892 in Cuba, Illinois, and raised in Canton. In 1909, his family moved to the Judith Basin area of Montana. Because he was mechanically handy, he found work repairing broken farm equipment. While in his early 20s, he built his first airplane in the lobby of the hotel his mother managed, but was unable to fly it because he had no suitable engine.

By 1919, Montana suffered from wind erosion and drought, and the opportunities for repairing farm equipment dwindled. Eyerly moved his young family to Salem, Oregon, where he became a heavy-equipment operator, working on the state’s burgeoning system of roads. As automobiles became more popular, he opened a service station called “The Grease Spot.” In 1920, he took three hours of flying instruction from Elmer Cook – the only formal flying instruction he ever received. In 1921, he enrolled in the engineering program at the Oregon Agriculture College, where he was hired as an instructor shortly after. From 1923 to 1926, Eyerly and his family lived in Waldport, Oregon, where he worked as a ferry operator and opened another service station. In 1926, they moved back to Salem, and he purchased his first aircraft, a small mail plane.

With funds raised by the American Legion, Lee purchased a five acre plot of land near the former Governor’s Mansion on which he established Salem’s airport. By 1929, he founded an aviation school, and later, the first aircraft service station on the west coast. When the Great Depression hit, he devised two inexpensive ways to train pilots. The first was the Whiffle Hen, a plane which only burned two US gallons (8 L) of fuel per hour of flight. The second was a ground-based flight training device patented under the name “Orientator”. The Orientator consisted of a small airplane suspended in what looked like the tines of a giant tuning fork. Air from the electrically driven propeller passed over the wings and rudder, and the operator controlled the movements of the plane in a manner similar to a real aircraft.

The Orientator was produced commercially and five were purchased by the Cuban government. When the Orientator was most popular to visitors at state fairs and carnivals, and Eyerly realized the Orientator was more profitable as an amusement park ride. It was renamed the Acroplane and 54 were subsequently produced. Eyerly changed his company’s focus from aircraft to amusement rides.

Eyerly developed and patented numerous amusement rides which would become staples of carnival midways, including the Loop-O-Plane (1933),the Roll-O-Plane, the Fly-O-Plane and the Rock-O-Plane (1948).

His most popular design was the Octopus, of which almost 400 were sold, and resulted in later variations: the Spider and the Monster. Two of his kiddie carousel rides were the Midge-O-Racer and Bulgy the Whale.

Although Eyerly’s manufacturing business became amusement rides, the name of his company remained Eyerly Aircraft and he maintained his interest in aeronautics. He served on the Oregon Aeronautics Board from the 1920s to 1958, including ten years as its chair. In 2001, Eyerly was named the third inductee into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Fame.

Thrill Ride – The Flying Scooter

Popular Vintage Carnival Rides Bisch-Rocco, The Flying Scooters, have been around for over three quarters of a century, not bad for ride with such a simple concept.

The Flying Scooter has its roots in other carnival rides of the early 1900s including Harry Traver’s Circle Swing. Traver’s swing involved a similar rotating flight experience, but without the interactivity of the Bisch creation.

Alvin Bisch created the Flying Scooter in the early 1930’s, with early prototypes built as airplane pilot training devices.

The first scooter model to bear a resemblance to today was patented in 1939 however the original patent application date was July 21, 1934.

It wasn’t long before Bisch and his business partner Ralph Rocco had a huge success on their hands. Dozens of models, eight and ten tub, portable for carnival midway use and fixed for amusement parks, began popping up throughout the mid-west.

During the boom years a lot of Army surplus parts from WWII were used on new and existing installations. It is believed Bisch Rocco Flying Scooters were built through the 1950’s but unfortunately, little record of their original history is left.

None of these rides exist on any carnival midway today and although not produced for well over half a century, there are still a few of these old girls operating in various amusement parks in America which have been lovingly preserved.

Coney Island in Cincinnati Ohio had an early set of Bisch Rocco scooters, which were moved to Kings Island when the park opened in 1972.

The ‘Flying Eagles’ were extremely popular and ran at the park until 2004, They were purchased by and are still operating today at the Carowinds Amusement Park. The Flying Eagles even launched a club of sorts, Flyer Addicts Anonymous.

A skilled rider can “snap” the cables suspending the vehicle. Snapping is caused by the cables slacking due to quick motions of the vehicle and is made easier on the faster, older Flying Scooters rides.

Today the Flying Scooter ride is still alive and well in the design concept of the Larson Manufacturing Company who produces a somewhat scaled down model for modern amusement parks. The newer models are designed to prevent snapping due to safety concerns.

How The Merry Go Round Got Its Start In America

Parker Carousel Company Builds A Production Model of A Merry Go Round

An example of an early “Steam Jenny” in Blackfoot, Idaho…1905

When traveling amusement devices were in their infancy, one of the first was a Merry-Go Round or Carousel.

The name Carousel is derived from the name “Carry Us All” which was the name used in advertising for the first such production model riding devices of this type built by the Parker Carousel Company in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Electricity had yet to be realized and reliable gasoline engines were still being invented and the means of powering these riding devices was relegated to mules.

Although their speed and performance was limited, they were quite proficient at these types of tasks. A female mule or “Jenny” was more docile and less obstinate than a male or “Jack” and easier to handle so these animals were preferred by the rides owners. The name “Jenny” stuck and has been carried along throughout the decades by seasoned show people to this day as an acronym for the ever present Merry-Go Round.

As steam power came along, it replaced the often cranky animals who required veterinary maintenance, feed, and specialized transportation. It also increased the speed of the ride which gave it a more thrilling appeal to patrons. The age of steam power was short. The voracious appetites for fuel and water made these beasts labor intensive and constant attention was required to keep steam pressure levels regulated. The quality of steel and iron used in the boilers in those days was undependable and occasionally a structural failure or over pressurized boiler caused an explosion that would kill or maim anyone near it.

As time progressed, the production of small, portable gasoline engines, primarily developed for use in farming provided a better solution to the motive power problem for ride owners of the day. The new inventions were adapted by the fledgling outdoor amusement industry and they quickly replaced the steam engine.

As the years progressed gasoline engines were replaced by more efficient and dependable electric motors which always started, ran reliably in every type of weather, never ran out of gas and required almost no maintenance. On today’s modern midways, lighter, smaller size electric motors developing the same horsepower as their older large and heavy counterparts, combined with modern hydraulics and advanced computers, make them the main means of propulsion on all carnival and amusement park riding devices including the stalwart Merry Go Round.

Midway Slideshow

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Hrubetz is generally credited with inventing the venerable Paratrooper ride.This ride today is considered a staple on most midways in America sharing the spotlight with such consistent old favorites as the Tilt-A-Whirl and Merry-Go-Round. The ride was, in many ways, basically an improvement over the previously designed "Spitfire" which had bulkier, airplane style tubs and took up more truck and wagon space and was harder to set up and move. However, in the context of: "everything old is new again," I submit a photo of one of the first Paratrooper style rides, which you can see was invented far earlier, probably in the early 1920's. ... See MoreSee Less

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